Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

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Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, no hard-working American should ever have
to worry that her employer will refuse to pay her when she works
overtime or takes money out of her paycheck, especially if she works
for a Federal contractor. This practice is known as wage theft.

Right now, Federal contractors who violate the Fair Labor Standards
Act are allowed to apply for Federal contracts. This amendment will
ensure that funds may not be used to enter into a contract with a
government contractor that willfully, and this is important, Mr.
Chairman, willfully or repeatedly violates the Fair Labor Standards
Act.

Other iterations of this amendment have simply identified any
violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. This one identifies only
those contracts wherein the violator has been found to have been
willfully or repeatedly in violation.

Now, I hope that both Republicans and Democrats can agree that
willful and repeated violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act are
unacceptable; that we can find other contractors who do not violate the
Fair Labor Standards Act willfully and repeatedly. And this amendment
ensures that those in violation of the law do not get taxpayer support.

It also ensures that honest, good contractors who do not willfully
and repeatedly violate the Fair Labor Standards Act can have contracts.

Why shouldn't the Federal Government work with contractors who have
some modicum of respect for their employees and who do not willfully
and repeatedly violate the Fair Labor Standards Act?

This amendment relies upon the violations reported to the Federal
Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System.

Again, when a contractor applies for a Federal contract, there is
documentation they have to fill out, including the Federal Awardee
Performance and Integrity Information System, and that system looks
back to look at the prior 5 years worth of criminal, civil, or
administrative agency actions which have a final disposition.

None of these things are pending. None of these things are under
appeal. They have been decided.

And this amendment says that wherein violations of the Fair Labor
Standards Act have been decided and determined conclusively, and only
in the category of those that have been willful and/or repeated, then
those particular contractors are contractors whom the U.S. Government
shouldn't be doing business with, at least for 5 years, until they
clean their act up.

Now, I hope that no one in this body would want to stand on the side
of the willful and repeated violators of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
It is impossible to me that any Member would want to do that,
particularly when we are trying to promote and do business with honest,
decent contractors, or at least average and mediocre contractors.

This one has gone to the, again, willful and repeated violators. Very
difficult to stand next to them, and I hope no Member of this body would do such a thing.

The amendment would ensure that a single inadvertent violation would
not disqualify a contractor. And that is important. I have had some
people say, well, what if somebody just messes up one time?

Well, no, that particular individual wouldn't be hit by this
amendment. But the willful and repeated ones would.

So I think taxpayer money should be spent wisely. I think that as the
largest purchaser of goods and services, the Federal Government must
find a way to make sure funds are going to companies that treat their
workers fairly and give American families a chance to succeed.

This is a serious problem, Mr. Chairman. The Economic Policy
Institute found that ``In total, the average low-wage workers lose a
stunning $2,634 per year in unpaid wages, representing as much as 15
percent of their earned income.''

A report by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of
the U.S. Senate revealed that 32 percent of the largest Department of
Labor penalties for wage theft were levied against Federal contractors.

This is a problem. This is a situation that must be remedied.

Similarly, the National Employment Law Project study found that 21
percent of Federal contract workers were not paid overtime, and 11
percent have been forced to work ``off the clock.''

Upholding the rule of law is a bipartisan issue. I think that we may
disagree on many things; taxes, spending, we disagree on that. There
have even been people in this body who disagree that any violator of
the Fair Labor Standards Act should get a contract, but I certainly
hope that those people who are repeated--let me repeat--repeated and
willful violators should be excluded at least for 5 years.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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